1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to electrical hot beverage brewers, such as coffee brewers, and more particularly to such beverage brewers that employ removably mounted brew baskets.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Electrical, commercial, beverage brewers of the type that have a controller that automatically controls a plurality of brewer elements are well known. These brewer elements include a hot water reservoir, a brew valve, or dispense valve, and a fill valve to initially fill the reservoir and to also add water after water is removed through a brew valve to pass over and through ingredient, such as ground coffee beans or ground tea or tea leaves, are well known. These elements are all contained within a housing to which is attached a removable brew basket mounting mechanism to which a brew basket is removably mounted during the brewing cycle. The brew basket has a filter holder for supporting a paper filter within which the ingredient is contained. The brew basket has an open top and inwardly tapers downwardly to a beverage outlet opening.
During a brew cycle, the brew valve is opened for a preselected time period corresponding to the desired quantity of beverage to be brewed to pass hot water from the reservoir to a spray head that sprays the hot water through the open top of the brew basket and onto the beverage ingredient. The beverage ingredient is contained within a disposable filter paper that in turn is supported within the brew basket by means of a wire filter holder. The hot water seeps through the ingredient and dissolves portions of the ingredient to make the hot beverage that passes through the filter paper supported by the filter holder, through the brew basket outlet opening and into an urn that is positioned beneath the brew basket outlet opening.
After the brew valve is closed at the end of a dispense period of the brew cycle, water remains in the brew basket that has not yet drained entirely through the ingredient. This period of the brew cycle is referred to as the drip period. After conclusion of the drip period, most of all the water that will pass through the ingredient and not be absorbed by the ingredient has passed through the ingredient and the dripping of the beverage out of the brew basket outlet opening substantially stops. The entire brew cycle then ends with the end of the drip period
At the end of the brew cycle, the brew basket may be slid out of supportive engagement with the brew basket mounting and away from its operative position beneath the brew valve to remove the depleted ingredient and the filter paper in which it is contained for disposal. A new filter paper is inserted and fresh ingredient added to the new filter paper.
It has been known for users of this type of brewer, because of being in a rush to quickly start a new brew cycle, or otherwise due to inattentiveness, to remove the brew basket before the end of the brew cycle. This can result in scalding beverage dripping onto the user or onto a counter or floor as well as hot water being dispensed directly onto and splashing onto the top of the urn and elsewhere. Such circumstance can cause injury due to burns or slipping on spilled water and in the least, alters the intended strength and thus taste of the brewed beverage by reducing the quantity of weaker beverage that passes from the ingredient at the end of the brew cycle.
In accordance with the present invention this disadvantage of known brewers is overcome by automatically selectively actuating a locking mechanism that locks the brew basket into the operative position beneath the brew valve at the start of the brew cycle when in the operative position.
This objective is achieved by providing in a beverage brewer having a water tank, a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient to be mixed with the water from the water tank, a housing, means for mounting the brew basket for removal from an operative position in which the brew basket safely funnels beverage to a container and an inoperative position removed from the brewer housing and a remote controlled brew valve that selectively passes water from the water tank to the brew basket, and a safety brew basket lock assembly composed of an automatic lock mechanism for selectively locking the brew basket to the housing in the operative position when the brew basket is in the operative position, and a controller responsive to actuation of the start switch to actuate the automatic lock mechanism to prevent removal of the brew basket from the housing during a preselected time period after actuation of the start switch
The objective is also obtained by providing in a beverage brewer having a water tank, a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient to be mixed with the water from the water tank, a housing, means for mounting the brew basket for removal from an operative position in which the brew basket funnels beverage to an urn and an inoperative position removed from the brewer housing and a remote controlled brew valve that selectively passes water from the water tank to the brew basket, a safety brew basket lock assembly having a sensor that senses when the brew basket is not in the operative position for making beverage and passing the beverage to a container, an automatic lock mechanism that locks the brew basket to the housing in the operative position when the brew basket is in the operative position and the lock mechanism is actuated, said lock mechanism blocking, if actuated, blocking placing the brew basket in the operative position, and a controller responsive to the sensor to disable the lock mechanism when the brew basket is removed from the operative position to enable placement of the brew basket into the operative position.
The objective is obtained also in part by providing in a beverage brewer having a water tank, a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient to be mixed with the water from the water tank, a housing, means for mounting the brew basket for removal from an operative position in which the brew basket safely funnels beverage to a container and an inoperative position removed from the brewer housing and a remote controlled brew valve that selectively passes water from the water tank to the brew basket in response to actuation of a brew start switch, a safety method of brewing by performing the steps of automatically selectively locking the brew basket to the housing in the operative position when the brew basket is in the operative position, and responding to actuation of the start switch to actuate the automatic lock mechanism to prevent removal of the brew basket from the housing during a preselected time period after actuation of the start switch
Also, the objective is achieved by providing in a beverage brewer having a water tank, a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient to be mixed with the water from the water tank, means for mounting the brew basket for removal from an operative position in which the brew basket funnels beverage to an urn and an inoperative position removed from the brewer housing and a remote controlled brew valve that selectively passes water from the water tank to the brew basket, a safety method performed by sensing when the brew basket is not in the operative position for making beverage and passing the beverage to a container, selectively locking the brew basket to the housing in the operative position with an automatic lock when the brew basket is in the operative position, controlling the lock mechanism in response to the sensor to disable the lock mechanism when the brew basket is removed from the operative position.